[WVPC Commander]

This is a tactic that is used heavily by the U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.s, Delta, and several other S.T.C.T.s (Small Squad Tactical Combat Teams). It is a staple of the Tactics and Maneuver guide and has been a lifesaver many times and is actually the first tactic that I taught my team. To learn this tactic and polish it to near perfection plan to spend a lot of time in the woods with your attack squad and be prepared to be a hard dumper about their timing, speed, and fluidity. This is not an easy tactic to pull off but it works very well in a lot of situations. It can be slightly modified to serve as your go to plan for the fighting retreat, a strong tactic to use when dealing with small pockets of the OpFor, or one large pocket…
(I should note that in order for this tactic to work properly you should play in a fairly heavily wooded area with plenty of underbrush and your team MUST have good camouflage strategies. I also assume a tem man team in all of my tactics)

Shadowboxing:

Theoretically simple shadowboxing derives its name not from the actions of the implementing team, but from the actions of the OpFor. Shadowboxing is a hit and run, guerilla tactic designed to cause confusion and misdirection in the minds of the enemy. This is achieved by using several (3-6) players in a sight line fan formation (Spread out in a line moving quickly through wooded areas but never out of sight of each other). When the OpFor is encountered the line quickly and quietly (QUIETLY) moves into a dual flank (Optimally 3 teams of 2). The Shadowboxing will then begin, players will raise and fire two or three shots before ducking into the brush and disappearing, then one on the right will repeat the maneuver then one on the left. Keep this up, it is confusing, it hides your numbers, and it also happens to create what snipers call a fish in a barrel effect, they will almost always group up and look for the fastest way out, a sniper or anyone with a decent shot for that matter can pick them off one by one, and once they run for it it’s over, there is no honor lost in shooting a man in the back if later he plans to turn around…

As for the adaptations of shadowboxing it can be used on the run, either forwards or backwards to befuddle the OpFor into your exact locations and numbers. Believe me, when the staged and seemingly random fire from several locations while you watch shadows move through the trees is seen by the OpFor Commander he will tally numbers much higher than 5 or 6. It is a great tactic to use in paintball due to the fact that it does not rely on accuracy or individual talent, trust me, 6 rookies can take down a team of B.U.D.S. trainers quickly using this tactic….

[WVPC Commander]

Suppressive fire is a must in any combat or combat related activity, a.k.a. Paintball and the tactic should be learned and used carefully. What many people do not realize is that if suppressive fire is not used properly you are just wasting ammo and the rough part is, the team that does know what they are doing will recognize this and milk it for every thing it’s worth.

The goal of suppressive fire is to keep the heads of the OpFor down, not pin them, just keep them down. Appropriate times to use suppressive fire is when advancing on a fortified position, circumambulating a position (Does not happen very often in paintball), baiting a shot, or just buying yourself a little more time. I am going to give a couple of tips and examples for each case but remember, suppressive fire is an art, it should be practiced, and practiced often for the suppressors to be good at it..

Advancing on a Fortified Position
This is the most common use of suppressive fire is to advance on enemy controlled bunkers, walls, ridges or entrenchments. This is done by having one or two shooters take up a position across from the OpFor and simply peppering the fortification for 30 or 40 seconds then holding off for a couple of seconds and begin trading off shots, one every two seconds or so, this will conserve paint on your end and keep the OpFor heads down enough to allow the rest of the squad to flank around and take them out…

Tips
1) Don’t over fire, it is not worth the paint, many times in a suppressive fire position less is more.
2) Break up your fire pattern, fire at the bunker, then into the ground nearby then let one sail over the bunker, keep them guessing.
3) Vary your fire consistency, occasionally step up the rate of fire, then let it die down altogether for a couple of seconds.
4) Watch for a shot of opportunity, occasionally you will get a glimpse of the top of their head or their boot, take the shot, one less that your flankers don’t have to worry about.

Circumambulating a position
This is very similar to advancing but instead of attacking you simply keep their heads down long enough to get past them.

Tips
1) There are very few tips that I can offer here other than the faster the better and don’t stick around to see what happens.

Baiting the shot
Baiting the shot is what you do when there are no flankers, it’s just you, or when it is a bunker to bunker shoot out (My least favorite tactic). What you do is lay down the fire, let them know that you are there, then take cover, allow them to return the fire, wait for a lull and pop off a shot or two. This is a LONG process and requires that you play smarter than the other guys, a one to one shot ratio will not equate to the desired effect.

Tips
1) Take your time, once committed to this line of attack you are in for a long haul.
2) Make sure before you do this that the payoff is worth it, if you are holding down a bunker that is off on it’s own not doing anything you are wasting time and ammo.
3) Look for the shot of opportunity, that will expedite the process greatly.
4) Never overshoot, the object here is to run them out of ammo, keep them shooting, oft times you can draw their fire without you shooting. Pop up then down two or three times then change position, keep them guessing and keep them shooting.

[irishnd98]

thanks WVPC Commander this is a great post. I am glad that real tactics are used in Paintball and excited about the furthering use of paintball technology by the armed forces to practice tactics.

[ninjanought]

Thanx fer the tips man. Now I will truly be a :ph34r: NINJA :ph34r: lol

[Shady SNP]

Great Post. Very good information on tactics, this could be very useful to an experienced team as well as a newer team. I will take this into consideration while coming up with plans. Thank you.

[tank]

hte armed forces are doing a lot with paintball when i wasin the tank unit we did it a lot but we ran the wedeg or the v a lot to keep the comand alive

[HvyRifleman12345]

Man if I was getting Shadowboxed on a night field I would DOO DOO myself

[Rancor]

Nice stuff. I'll be printing this out and handing it to all my team mates to get us on the same page tactics wise.

[dextonik]

I have a question, if your being engaged by the opfor on an open area should you advance or fall back, I tried the whole advance thing after hearing that the enemy will retreat if this manuever was executed but this wasnt the case at all we both advanced and it becaome a total eliminiation of both teams. I guess what Im asking is how do you become more effective while out in the open my team was consisted of 3 players including me, and the other team was like 5 players and we had a long run into cover.

[SAPPER HERC]

if you were on line you should have sent one or two guys to break contact and flank. it might have confused enough to back them into a retreat.

[shookum]

I personally have tried this on many occations with some sniper buddies of mine. We all wear ghillie suits when we do it. The way we do it is there are four of us and we pop up from tall grass, pop a few, get back down, and crawl like our tails are on fire. This is my favorite tactic ever.

[MANDO]

I'll need to try that tactic. Thanxs for the info.

[THE NAMELESS]

this is perfect because shadowboxing doesnt require very many people and i loved the baiting the shot part because that helps a lot in speedball when ur only using a full hopper and no pods

[Black kat]

Yes,thanks WVPC Commander this is a great post and the tactics!

irishnd98, on Mar 27 2006, 02:06 PM, said:

thanks WVPC Commander this is a great post. I am glad that real tactics are used in Paintball and excited about the furthering use of paintball technology by the armed forces to practice tactics.

[Kilshot]

irishnd98, on Mar 27 2006, 04:06 PM, said:

thanks WVPC Commander this is a great post. I am glad that real tactics are used in Paintball and excited about the furthering use of paintball technology by the armed forces to practice tactics.

Hoohah